30 Rock Ending Next Season? Not So Fast…

Your costar announces that the show you created and star in is going off the air when it’s not? Dealbreaker!

That’s no doubt the thought that crossed Tina Fey’s mind on Wednesday morning when she heard that Alec Baldwin took it upon himself to publicly set an end date to 30 Rock.

“I will tell you one thing,” Baldwin told NYMag.com. “And that is our show next year is our last year of the show. Our contracts are expired [in 2012], and Tina is gonna have a big career directing films and writing. She’s going to be the next Elaine May. She’ll be great.”

There’s just one problem: It’s apparently hogwash.

While it’s true that Fey and Baldwin’s contacts are up in May 2012, an NBC insider insists, “We have had no conversations about 30 Rock ending next season.”

Perhaps this was just wishful thinking on Baldwin’s part. The multiple Emmy winner has made no secret of his desire to leave Rock when his current deal ends. It’s also possible that the man behind Jack Donaghy is using the media to negotiate a new mega-bucks contract with the Peacock.

Thats a matter of opinion platypus, the center of the show is Liz and Jack’s relationship, 1/2 of that is Baldwin, I think he if leaves, which is high, the show will end. You can keep protecting the show like your own child, but doesn’t mean you need to act like an ass

I think Tina’s laughing at the irony. Liz Lemon has the uncontrollable Tracy Jordan and Jenna Malone to deal with and Tina has the equally f-ed up Tracy Morgan and Alec Baldwin to deal with. She really has turned into Liz Lemon.

Word. I had no idea this was all going on. What career does Alec have outside of the show? I didn’t think his few movie gigs and Oscar hosting went that well. He seems to have done a 180 since praising Tina for the opportunity she gave him with this role. Bad career move, I think Alec. Very David Caruso-ish of you.

Wrong. Modern shows don’t last long enough. It used to be shows lasted as long as the viewers and the people behind them wanted, “I Love Lucy” and “Seinfeld” 9 Seasons, “Cheers” 11… and these shows had much more episodes in a season than modern-day television.

New shows seem hermetically sealed with expiration dates, as if studio heads want to artificially pump up ratings by continuously threatening to cancel the show.

Yes, but you also have to remember there were fewer choices in television viewing during those heydays. Plus, the immediacy of getting just about any kind of entertainment you want through our modern technology makes it harder for shows to keep our attention if they aren’t fresh and/or really good. Shows on cable are succeeding so well because of the abbreviated seasons they run. It’s easier for people to watch 12 episodes almost straight in a row rather than keeping up with 22-24 spread out over a year with multiple reruns.

It seems like the actors get to be less and less team players. stars on NBC sitcoms especially, end up with big movie deals and it becomes less and less important to do a tv show. Friends and Seinfeld stuck around for so long because almost all the actors got their fame from these shows and were thankful for that. Now everyone is looking out for themselves and that could kill the show faster.

“Lucy” is of a vastly different TV era. Is there any better example of a show that long outlasted its welcome than “Cheers”? “Seinfeld” ran too long, too. And it’s not at all true that they had more episodes, either; “Seinfeld” had the traditional 22-episode season, while “The Office” has produced seasons with nearly 30 episodes.

“30 Rock” is a funny show and I love it, but it’s been running out of gas for awhile, and formerly beloved characters now grate (ie. Kenneth). One more season would be about right for it, and its time to pass the torch to “Community” and “Parks and Rec”, most notably.

It’s weird, I just started watching the show this season and I absolutely love it. I guess it’s hard for me to understand why everyone seems to think the show’s sucking these days when you haven’t been watching since the beginning.

I’ve been watching 30 Rock since the beginning and I still love the show. Each episode has a lot of fun and many memorables moments. To me, 30 Rock is a great and amazing comedy and I can watch many episodes every day.

I think they are plenty of classic shows that outlived their prime. Think of shows like the Cosby’s where by the end you basically had a different cast because the kids were grown. I can’t remember the other show people usually cite where Cousin Oliver showed up. Unfortunately certain shows have an expiration because the premise can only be sustained so long. Current shows I can think of are How I Met Your Mother. It was great in the beginning but five-six years in and they are all in the same place they started as 30 somethings drinking every night. You know Ted won’t meet the mother til the end so all the relationship in between are pointless, and they’ve had to stall Lily and Marshall having kids because once they do it becomes harder to keep that central bar element they like. Grey’s is the same way where the main couple is basically treading water because they won’t get their happy ending til the end. I loved both of these shows, but I think both have reached the point where it’s getting old to watch things stay the same. As others have said I would much rather lose a show and have it go out on it’s own terms, then to have a great show whimper out because the writers didn’t know when to say enough.

Maybe I’m behind but isn’t Baldwin’s character from “GE” the NBC parent company on the show? Well, there’s a new parent company now “Comcast” – they could easily have Jack be ousted by the new regime? — Like Joe said LOLZ — get Charlie Sheen.

I’m not sure if you have been watching the past two seasons, but they have been addressing this transfer of NBC for a while now. Don Geiss has died and a company called “Kabletown” has replaced GE as the parent company.

Get Charlie Sheen so that Alec and Tracey are much easier to handle by comparison? Besides the fact that Sheen is an untalented piece of s**t, Tina would never hire a misogynistic wife beater. Really. Did you wander onto this thread by accident?

If Alec Baldwin leaves the show, they should just pack things up and call it a day. The relationship between Liz and Jack is the heart of the show and really, the only reason I watch. I find most of the supporting characters incredibly annoying.

Their relationship is definitely the heart of the show and the main reason I watch. As much as I love Tina, I can’t imagine Liz Lemon without her mentor/antagonist. I think Alec is crazy to consider leaving. Many of their scenes are two-handers. It’s comedy gold, and he’ll never be in a TV show as well-written. Not to mention most productions will steer clear of him now that it’s been confirmed he’s completely a loose cannon.

Agree with whoever said that it should end soon, for its own good. I love the show, and still do, but I’m willing to admit that the past two seasons just haven’t been quite as good as the ones before. And it happens, it’s nothing to be embarrassed about. It just becomes hard to write for the same characters for that long.

Look at Scrubs. That show just kept being forced out, even whenever most of the main cast had left. And it sucked. At a certain point, they just had nothing new to write for these guys, and so they resorted to making the same jokes every day (JD and Turk have guy-love…and that basically became the only joke in some episodes). The Office should have ended a while ago, but they’re still attempting to breathe life into a show that is currently a pathetic mimicry of what it used to be. Let 30 Rock choose to end, instead of going down a path of pure crap.

30 rock needs to end, it was funny, seasons 1-3. But I seriously think it needs to end, Tina feys character isn’t funny anymore, she’s just annoying now. So please Tina, admit defeat that community is better.

I love Community too, but what does that have to do with 30 Rock? They’re not competing, they’re on the same network as part of that night’s comedy line-up, and they potentially increase each others viewership. If 30 Rock goes off the air next year, NBC loses one of their comedy anchors. It’s not a win-win for Community at all.

To steal one of his infamous voicemail lines: “ungrateful pig!” I’m sure he knew what he was getting himself into upon signing the contract. I am certain that he is seeking a way out of this contract before 2012 and that’s why he keeps making comments such as these.

30 Rock is tight and well-written. The actors know their characters and make some great moments happen from there. And Matt Damon?! Seriously, a better moment than when Matt murmured lines to The Owls of Gahoole because he’d heard it 100 times and Liz ate a tea bag out of the garbage? Noper. 30 Rock is smart. You have all the reality TV you could possibly want – leave this for the rest of us.

I don’t think the writers know where to go next. But losing Jack could actually be what the show needs. Bring someone in who can play a character entirely different than Jack. Will Ferrel was a funny idea, if he plays an anchorman/Mr. Carlson kind of character (who’d need a Jennifer as well). I mean, after all, isn’t 30 Rock just WKRP anyway? Or how about Martin Mull? Less feeling than Jack’s character. Or get Shatner off of CBS…

30 Rock is a hilariously fantastic comedy, which I will watch until the end. That being said, Alec Baldwin leaving the show after season 6? Not a dealbreaker! As much as he is a part of 30 Rock, I have always considered Tina’s Liz Lemon the main character of the show. Jack has always been a secondary lead to me. I do find Alec’s statement very odd; he must be fishing for more money from NBC to renew his contract. Because a while back, he already stated his contract was up after season 6 and he would be leaving. Another thing is that I feel they have hit a slump with his character this season; every moment is him with Avery and there is not really anything to do with business anymore. Which is not horrible, but they evolved his character to begin acting like a family man and maybe are setting him up to leave the show. All I know is that 30 Rock gave Alec a well-needed boost to his career and can easily not give into any “alleged” negotiations with contracts.

I do agree that the show does need to come to a close shortly, maybe end with a season 7, if they cannot simply end next season. If Alec does not appear in the seventh season, they should have him appear in the finale at least. Hope everything goes well for the show.

In “Bossypants” Tina Fey explains that this is the same way he negotiated his original contract, basically, “Give me what I want or I won’t sign” and NBC knew that they needed him for the show so they all just played the waiting game.

Thanks for reminding me that I have to get that book! Interesting that this isn’t a change of character. I’ve always found him funny and very likable, but this certainly indicates that he may be as nasty as some of the reported personal incidents have indicated.

How have a gone until now without knowing about this??! I’ve already gone through all the steps of mourning the show. denial, bargaining, anger, etc. I even shared a sad moment with Tegan (from Tegan and Sara) about how sad we were that it was ending. I’m really disappointed in Alec for this, I love him and all but dick move. I love the show for Tina Fey and I’ll definitely continue to watch it even if he leaves.